April 27, 2009

Weekend break at Melukote

The weekend has come and gone, and oh it was a lot of fun. A good match between travel, relaxing and shopping.

This weekend we went to visit Melukote, a sleepy small town 200 odd kilometers from Bangalore in the Mandya district of Karnataka.

This town is famous for its rock structures and two temples. One being the Yoganarasimha temple on top of a hill and the other the Tirunarayana temple in the town. There is also a Kalyani ( a square temple pond) which is very large with rock pillars and carvings on all four sides. There is also a grand rock structure which looks like it would be made for havans and large scale pujas.

The temple on the hill top has a grand gopuram and again is completely worked in rock. Each step leading up to the temple are quite high and many in number. The prasadam served at the temple is Puliogere which is also considered to be the delicacy of the town.

Following the temple visit, we proceeded to the Raya Gopura which is also a rock structure but partially finished. It is said to have been constructed in one night. On seeing the structure, I would say it can be assembled alright in one night. Each piece could have been carved and finished before being brought here for the final assembly.

Here are some pictures


The kalyani

Large rock structure like a mandapam

Yoganarasimha temple on the hill top

The steps leading up to the temple

The temple gopuram
Pillar Carvings


Raya Gopura
A interesting coloured lizard we found at the Raya Gopura


6 comments:

  1. Hey place looks beautiful!! especially the carving.....

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  2. :) the pics look great. assuming the place was good too. more than anything, the weather (of what i can tell from the pics) looks awesome!

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  3. all u bad ppl going on mini vacations....*turning green for the nth time this week*

    the carvings look so marvellous!! and that colourful lizard looks exotic!!! did u take the snap?? i can think of a million friends who wud have dropped their camera n fled to the city boundaries!!

    nice to know u really had a great weekend! :)

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  4. crafty: Yups, I did take that snap. This guy was very shy initially but then with the passage of a lil time, he came out to bask in the setting sun, and I quickly took this snap.

    I had a nice weekend :) I love these small one day trips, and that is one of the reasons I am happy I'm in Bengaluru!

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  5. Wow, that's really impressive! Can't imagine how much work these things took to make...

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  6. beautiful place and nice snaps!

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